Life off the grid in the SW Texas desert. An experiment in sustainable living. NUMBERS AT THE END OF EACH BLOG POST: temp at 8PM,high temp,low temp,rainfall,wind conditions(CalmBreezyWindyGusty). YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFieldLab
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Friday, December 20, 2013

redrok

Broke down the system today and put everything away...got a little rain last night, more expected tonight and high winds tomorrow. Will use the down time to plan an automatic tracking system for the set up. Always wanted to do one of these, so I reckon this is the time. Been aware of this site for longer than I have been out here. http://www.redrok.com/led3xassm.htm They have a great little single axis circuit to power a motor to keep the panels pointed right at the sun all day. I have the motor (satellite dish linear actuator) and enough steel lying around to do the project. Sells in kit form for only $20 or fully assembled for $35. One nice extra in this circuit is that when the sun goes down - the panels will turn back to the east and park there, waiting for the sun to come up the next day. If all goes well, I might have to try their dual axis circuit to drive that new solar oven I started over a year ago and have yet to finish.
57,65,60, .15",C,.12

2 comments:

1) Move one of your battery cables to the furthest battery terminal, you'll be charging and drawing much more evenly/efficiently across all three batteries.

2) A couple of pieces of pipe insulation would cover those exposed copper rails and still allow easy access for any maintenance. If you have a short, you won't be just making a spark, you'll be welding!

3) Fuse your battery bank. You don't want to find out it's been welding while you were away...